It's Friday and I've survived my FIRST FULL week of work since Winter Break without a snow day or delay! (It only took about 2 months....) Also, take a moment and realize that tomorrow is MARCH....seriously, where did February go??Needless to say, I'm definitely ready for the weekend, but before that, let's do some 5 on Friday, shall we?

{1}-Wedding Bands

these are the general look of our rings

They are in! They came in to our jeweler on Monday and we're picking them up next week! They were more than MG we planned on spending (but our jeweler gave us a great deal since he's a parent at the school that I work with), but I'm sure they are going to be awesome, and perfect for a lifetime of wear! I can't wait until we both sport our new bling :)

{2}-Tasting

Today after work MG and I are going to the hotel that we're having our reception at to do our tasting. We already had a sort of tasting before we signed with the venue, and we already know which meals we're having, but now we get to really try them out, and pick out our salad and hors d'ouevres for the cocktail hour! The ones we had at our first tasting were SO good, but now we get to try 9 of them and choose. Needless to say, we'll be pretty stuffed by the end of it all!

{3}-Name Plate

It does not actually say "MG" on my
real name plate, lol

At my school, we have name plates outside/on our doors to offices and classrooms. I never got one last year and this year there was some kind of delay or mishap each time mine was ordered. A couple weeks ago, I let our office manager know that it still hadn't come, so she put in a new order, but we decided it was smart to just do my married name, rather than order one that will be up for a month and then need to be re-ordered. Well, my new name plate arrived on Tuesday. SO weird to see my new last name, and Mrs. in front of it. It's hiding in my desk for now, until after April 12, when it will make its appearance on my office door. Eeek! I showed MG a picture of it, and he thought it was cool to see and then asked if my kids are going to start calling me by my new last name in the middle/end of the year. Truthfully, I'll probably answer to both, especially since I've been "Miss Z" at my school for 2 years now.

MG and I have been thinking about moving into a bigger place than our one bedroom condo for a while now, and recently have been looking at houses, etc. but without a solid idea of what we can actually do, since MG owns our condo. So, we've been talking to some lenders this week to try and get our heads wrapped around what we can afford, next steps, etc. We found out that we actually CAN afford to buy a house in our area, which was SUPER exciting to hear! This is real, big kid stuff. And as stressful as it all is, it's kind of neat to be thinking about buying a house together. OUR first house. Craziness.{5}-PhillyMG and I are headed up to Philly this weekend. We realized that with only a few more weekends before the wedding, we probably wouldn't get to see his whole family until the wedding day, so we're making the trek up there after our tasting today. We don't have any set plans but it'll be nice to see everyone, go to some of the nieces' games or whatever else may be on the docket. And get in some puppy play time with MG's parents' dog.Those are my FIVE this week--what're yours??

"Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle--and people in general--has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence--creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world."

It sounded a bit strange, but based on the almost 5 star ranking from over 2,000 reviews, I thought I'd give it a whirl. And, it was $4.99 on my Kindle through Amazon.

The writing in this book is different but engaging, and the way the story is told/unfolds is creative. It takes a long while to get to what I thought was the heart of the plot (Bernadette disappearing), so I kept reading thinking "Where is this going?"

I ranked this book a 3 out of 5. I liked the uniqueness of the writing, but I had trouble connecting with the characters, many of which had some outlandish actions that just didn't seem totally "real" to me.

That being said, it WAS unique and I read the book pretty quickly because I wanted to find out what was going to happen next. So, it kept me intrigued. After reading it, I'm still thinking about it, which is probably also a good sign.

All in all, I liked the book. Did I LOVE it? No....but I did like that it made me think while I read, rather than just follow along with a story. I'm not sure that will make sense unless you read the book, so I recommend that you do :)

If you're looking for a good book, check out my Book Reviews tab at the top of the page

1. Fill a large skillet about 2/3 of the way with water. Add salt to the water and boil. Cook the orzo according to the package directions. Drain and set aside.

2. Using the same skillet, add the oil to the pan and heat over medium heat. Add in the garlic and chili flakes and cook, stirring around, for about 1 minute. Add in the asparagus (and cherry tomatoes, if you're using them), and season with salt and pepper.

Coat the asparagus and cherries in the oil and cook for about 3-4 minutes, until asparagus is cooked through, but still semi-crisp.

3. Move the asparaus/tomatoes to the side, and add the shrimp to the pan, cooking until pink, about 4 minutes

4. Add the orzo back into the pan and stir. Add in most of the basil, the lemon juice, 1Tbsp olive oil, and the feta. Mix to combine

5. Top with any remaining basil (or salt and pepper, but I don't think you'll need any extra) and serve!

We reeeeeally liked this dish. It has just a touch of heat, but the cherry tomatoes add some sauce and help combine the flavors together. The asparagus was cooked perfectly through, too!

This weekend was SUPER pretty outside--the weather was absolutely GORGEOUS! I even went out without a jacket on!

Needless to say, MG and I took advantage of the weather this weekend. We took Cooper to the dog park, ran errands, spent some time outside, drove with the windows down and the sunroof open...it was great!

Friday night we went to dinner with 2 couple friends and tried out a relatively new restaurant in our area (well, it's been around for almost a year I think, but we haven't been yet, so it's still new to us), called Mussel Bar. Holy moly was it good! MG had the mussels and I had shrimp and grits, and they had french fries with amazing dipping sauces. It was TO DIE FOR good! Add some good friends to the mix, and it was a perfect night of laughter, good food, drinks and friends!

Saturday we took Coop to the dog park, and ran some errands. MG went for a run outside, and then about an hour later went into this crazy shivering thing where he couldn't get warm, was shivering out of control and felt like his whole body's muslces were stiffening up on him. It scared the bajeezus out of me. Luckily we were able to get him warm, and everything kind of died down as quickly as it came on. I was worried we'd need to go to the hospital, but luckily whatever it was, passed!

Needless to say, that night we stayed in, ordered Chinese food, and watched the end of Season 1 of House of Cards.

Sunday morning we were up early to finish up our errands for the weekend, and then made our way to an open house that we saw on Redfin. The house looked amazingly perfect, and it absolutely was! Now, MG and I need to start talking to lenders to find out what our actual options are so we can at least start planning for our next move (literal and figurative).

Since we were far out, and close to a Wegmans, we decided to go there to finish up our grocery shopping. I love me some Wegmans, but Wegmans on a Sunday around 3pm is INSANE. People come in throngs, drive their carts around like they're drunk, and are in general, just kind of rude and careless.

We got home after that ordeal and took Cooper for a long walk since the weather was nice out. Unfortunately, about an hour later, we think Cooper had another mini-seizure. It's really scaring me that these are happening again. Luckily it didn't last very long, and he was back to wiggling his tail and running around happily in a little bit. But, man, it's scary!

For dinner we went to Chipotle and then watched the first episode of Season 2 of House of Cards, and then caught the finale of Downton Abbey before heading to bed.

And then I spent the night dreaming about House of Cards haha.

That was my weekend--now I'm gearing up for a FULL week of school with the kids (assuming we don't get anymore snow or weird weather)!

MG and I got a really nice knife set for one of our first wedding gifts and we've gotten a lot of use out of them (while also realizing just how horrible our other knives were). Well, I learned first hand the other day how sharp they are when the knife slipped off of an onion I was cutting, and got me right in my pointer finger. Luckily it wasn't terrible, but man it hurt! (Another reason I have an onion holder on our registry!) haha

{2}-60 degrees!

It has FINALLY made its way into the 60's around DC and I could NOT be more happy. It's nice going to work in the morning and not having to run to my car so I don't freeze to death. It gives me hope that I won't need snow shoes or snow boots on my wedding day in April!

{3}-Cooking Machine

That's me! A cooking machine! This week alone, I've tried 3 new recipes, on top of 2 new ones that I tried last week! I never thought, when I left college, that I'd enjoy cooking, but it's fun when MG helps, and I feel like I finally know what I'm doing. Sorta. :) And, having MG ooh, aaaah, and mmmm after I'm done making a meal gives me positive motivation to continue. Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for some recipes like Skillet Shrimp with Orzo, Feta and Asparagus, Roasted Vegetable Enchilada Bake, and Beef Stroganoff! (You won't be disappointed!)

In case you wanted a sneak peek! :)

{4}-Wedding Checklist

I've been feeling relatively low-stress about the wedding stuff lately. And then Wednesday I had the realization that we needed to do welcome bags for our hotel guests (which is pretty much our whole wedding). And I just didn't have that in my head as something we needed to do. Which got me into a little bit of a panic about all of the other things looming around the corner that aren't on my radar. On top of the things that already are. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at having to do 80+ welcome bags...shopping for all of it, etc. Ugh. On top of making our escort cards, too...and whatever else is looming! Eeek! Anyone want to be my personal assistant for the next 50 days? :)(Side note: it's 50 DAYS AWAY!!)

I kind of adore him. Ok, more than kind of. I would husband him up in a heartbeat. He's SUCH a down to earth guy, so funny (actually, freaking hilarious), SO talented.... And I just love how much he's in love with his daughter. I never really realized just how attractive (or funny) he was until I started watching his Late Night special (during which, I was laughing my butt off--if you haven't seen it, you need to find it!). Since then, MG and I have been DVR'ing the Tonight Show and watching it the next day--we love it! And, I just love him. Plus, when he's with JT, I think my world kind of implodes on itself and I'm not sure what to do with myself. But, that's another story. I'm here to admit: I love Jimmy Fallon!

MEET DON TILLMAN, a brilliant yet socially challenged professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. And so, in the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers.

Rosie Jarman is all these things. She also is strangely beguiling, fiery, and intelligent. And while Don quickly disqualifies her as a candidate for the Wife Project, as a DNA expert Don is particularly suited to help Rosie on her own quest: identifying her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on the Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you.

I read several reviews before I bought this book, and many of them said that if you love Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, you'd love this book. Well, I LOVE Big Bang Theory, so I was all in.

I'd caution you against reading the book totally thinking about Sheldon, though. I kept imagining Sheldon and it distracted me from the story, because the main character wasn't 100% Sheldon.

As I got into the book, I found myself laughing at certain things that were said/done, and just really enjoying the character development and story line as it progressed.

It was a totally fun story, and I really really liked reading it. Definitely a nice, easy read with a different perspective of a main character than you're probably used to.

But, I'm kind of getting tired of it. There are some shows that I find I just watch when I'm bored. Some of the Real Housewives shows fit into this category. Atlanta I just am sick of the stereotyping. Beverly Hills I'm just not really interested in ANY of the women anymore (and Carlton looks like a scary skeleton to me). New York I gave up last year and then got back into it when I was bored one weekend and MG was out of town....but am pretty sure I won't be very invested in watching this new season.

Back in the day, I used to watch Real World (HS and College) ALL the time. I even wanted to be on the show at one point (didn't we all??) Thank goodness that never happened! I think that was pretty typical--MG even watched it, and he's a Reality tv hater. But, I watched part of this latest season recently because I'd seen the ads that it was the EX-plosion (the exes of the roommates were gonna live together at some point). But, all it is is young 20 somethings getting s***faced and having casual sex. I remember back in the day, they had to work, and do productive stuff (along with their drinking and relations). Now, it just seems like an exploitation of people. And....it's gross. The first episode featured 2-3 nights out at the bar, girls running around almost naked, and people having sex in the Confessional.

Is this what it's like to be 20-something?? If so....dear God maybe I don't want kids. Yikes!

(Even listening to the interviews, the producers sound like idiots.) And if it's not like this to be a young 20-something, why are we glorifying it??

Without getting into a big discussion about how we're all inundated way too much with sex sex sex (which, we are), I just wanted to share that I'm disgusted with some of the crap that's on tv.

Even The Bachelor is kinda wearing thin on me. Because, let's be real....how likely is it that you're going to find the love of your life, when you're getting your needs met by multiple people? That's why cheating usually doesn't lead to a lasting relationship....

But, I digress. My point here is..I still like some reality tv shows. It's my mindless tv guilty pleasure. But, some of it....I dunno. Maybe I grew up, or maybe things just got SO trashy and low class that I can't handle it. Either way, I think my DVR is gonna be less and less full. The last thing I want is to promote a bunch of idiots into getting "famous" for being jerks or just plain dumb trash.

I found two yummy recipes on pinterest that I tried out last week, the first of which was Spicy Parmesan Shrimp Pasta from the blog Damn Delicious.

**Keep in mind, mine looks a little different than the original because I used Veggie pasta which is why it has a reddish color instead of the normal whitish yellow of pasta**

*This recipe requires you to marinate the shrimp for at least 30 minutes*

What You Need:

I have shredded cheese pictured here. I'd use grated for the
marinade, and for the topping before serving. It has a better
taste than the shredded kind

-1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined, thawed

-1/3 C. olive oil

-1/4 C. grated Parmesan cheese (the sprinkle kind)

-2 tsp. minced garlic from jar (or 4 cloves fresh garlic minced)

-1 Tbsp brown sugar

-2 tsp. soy sauce

-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, if desired (this dish isn't THAT spicy)

-3/4 box of penne

-green onions for garnish, if desired (I didn't use them)

What You Do:

1. In a bowl, combine the olive oil, grated parmesan cheese, garlic, brown sugar and soy sauce. Add in the shrimp and toss to coat. Put in a ziploc bag and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and return to the pot.

3. Heat the shrimp and the sauce it was marinated in, in a large skillet over medium heat until cooked.

4. Once the shrimp is cooked, combine it with the pasta mixture, making sure it is well mixed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. You can garnish with the green onions if desired. I added parmesan cheese on top of mine. As I said earlier, I'd suggest using the grated parmesan cheese as the flavor blends better with everything than the shredded kind.

This dish has a sweeter taste, but it's really yummy. It definitely tasted even better as leftovers, since the flavors got to meld more with the shrimp and pasta, so it got that much better.

This one was a super easy and pretty fast meal to put together--I'll definitely be making this again, and maybe trying to find some extra veggies to put in this dish, too.

Friday night MG and I had planned on doing a more low-key Valentine's Day since it would be crazy crowded and busy out, so we went to one of our favorite pizza places nearby and had dinner, talked about the past, when we knew we were in love, etc. All the things that make my girly heart go pitter-patter :)

During dinner I had the best idea ever: to go to a restaurant down the street and get key lime martinis for dessert. The restaurant was packed with people waiting to have dinner (and some fun Valentine's Day decorations) but we sidled up to the bar and enjoyed our delicious martinis. So much so, that we ordered another round :)

Saturday was a completely lazy day for us until the late afternoon when we had arranged to tour two townhouses in the area. We've been looking at places in the area to see what we could get for our money because, one day, our one bedroom condo just won't do.

We toured one place that was really spacious, but had some outdated features. We liked it, but knew it wasn't "right" so we headed to the second townhouse.

I wish that we hadn't.

The main floor was fine. Had some updating to do, but nothing horrible. And then we went downstairs. Oh man...it was awful. Picture wood paneled walls, painted a creepy peach color, a huge bed in the corner of this dark room (that only had one teeny tiny window in the upper corner of the room), that looked old and just ew. And then curtains around the bed. OLD curtains. On a track so they could be opened and closed. And it smelled like an old person's house. It resembled something out of a horrible 70's porn and/or murder movie. (I joked that if we pulled off the panelling and a dead body came out, I wouldn't be surprised.) I will have nightmares about that basement. (And I now know why there were NO pictures of the basement on the website....ughhhhh).

Needless to say, it was not a hit (I can't live in a house, or raise kids in a house, that I'M scared of the basement!).

After laughing (and cringing/shuddering) at how horrible that house was, we went to dinner and then met up with two other couples to go bowling. It was a lot of fun hanging with everyone and laughing at how horrible we all are.

Sunday MG went skiing with a friend and I took advantage of the last day of the weekend to get some reading, work and laundry done. (Book reviews coming at you this week and next!)

And today I'm at work, because this is one of our make-up days for the snow days we had earlier in the year (and usually our Mondays are half days with kids, but today is a full day). Boo work! Adding insult to injury: our coffee maker broke yesterday, and the Keurig at work has no coffee pods. Coffee-less Jenn on an extra long Monday that everyone else has as holiday=mega sad face. Feel sorry for me, a little, please? haha

This week was a lot less stressful as I got pretty caught up on meetings, etc. at work from all of the snow days and delays we've been having. And then our snow storm came and I have more time off from work. But, I'm not gonna complain because it's really pretty out and I got my "long weekend" that they took away because of the other snow days anyway. Nanny-nanny-boo-boo, school district! :)

Let's get to some 5 on Friday!

{1a}- #TeamTeddy

(I was a little delayed on getting my picture together this morning so pardon the later update with my support of this sweet boy and his family!)

{1b}-Snow Day

Admittedly, it doesn't look THAT bad from this pic
(and it's not REALLY bad right where we are)

MG had the day off yesterday with me, and we took advantage of the together time to snuggle on the couch, watch some tv/movie, clean out some drawers and other things around the condo, and try out our new steamer (which is awesome!) And, my awesome fiance went out and cleaned out my car, and shoveled out to the street for me. Love :)

{2}-Flowers

For my bridal shower, my bridesmaid got white and purple flowers to place around the party room we rented out. Afterwards, we put most of them into a really big vase, and the others into a small vase I had gotten from P!nky for my shower gift. I LOVE having them around the house. It's a small thing that just brightens things up a bit (and I can't believe they look so good, 6 days later!). Plus, these flowers are a reminder of such a fun day, and how awesome my friends are! And, maybe we'll be adding another bunch of flowers later today if MG is on his game this Valentine's Day :)

{3}-Enough Said

MG and I watched Enough Said yesterday. I'd been wanting to see it for a while since it came out in theaters, and the snow day presented a good time to watch it. It was actually really cute in parts, made us both laugh, and then had some moments where you could feel the awkwardness happening. I really liked the movie. It was definitely weird seeing Gandolfini in this type of roll, and watching him knowing that he's not here anymore.

{4}-UPS/FedEx

They have been annoying me more and more frequently. I live in a condo complex and multiple times a week, I notice a package delivered to our building that has an address that ISN'T our address (I usually take the package to whatever building it was supposed to be delivered to). With wedding presents coming in, and not knowing the ship/arrival dates, it's hard to know if things have come and we haven't gotten them or what when this happens so frequently. Twice now, we've had something say it was delivered and it wasn't there until a day or more later. This summer (July) I had a dress "delivered" from Loft that I never got....until a month ago. January. How hard is it to read a building number and deliver it to the right place? Makes me nervous....

{5}-Bridesmaid Dresses

They are FINALLY in! I can't wait to see them on all of my pretty girls. Well, and just SEE them since I haven't actually seen any dress in the entire color other than through iPhone pictures and a color swatch. (Do I have trust in my almost sister-in-law who found the dresses or what? haha) I'm so excited the dresses are in...another check mark and one step closer to the Big Day!

I hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day, today, and a great, fun-filled weekend! :)

As you've probably heard on the news, the DC area is getting hit with a pretty good snow storm right now. When I was out with Coop this morning around 7, we probably had about 6"....the snow was half way up his body and at first he was looking at me like "what am I supposed to do?"

Cut to a few minutes later, he was bounding through it like a bunny rabbit. I wish I'd had my phone out with me--it was pretty cute!

All of the schools and the government are shut down in our area, so MG and I are having a snow day together. We had a yummy breakfast (cooked by him) and have been doing some chores around the house including cleaning out some drawers and other things, using our new steamer (so cool!) and now MG is in the process of installing a wall mount for our tv that we got as a shower gift as I type.

I already finished a book I was reading on my Kindle and anticipate starting another one as the day goes on, too. Not to mention the Bravo shows that are waiting to be watched on the DVR.

The down side to the snow day is that my school year is going to get extended at least a day. Which stinks because our last day of school was a Friday. So, now we have to go on a Monday. Blah.

Speaking of school...I wish my district announced snow days like this:

We'll be enjoying our day, (despite having to make it up later) since we are definitely stuck inside for a while until the snow stops coming down and the roads can get cleared off a little bit better. At least MG has 4 wheel drive if we need it.

And, thanks to my bridal shower this past weekend, our wine fridge is fully stocked with wine (and then some!) We are set :)

Oh, and we don't have a shovel. Bahaha. Things could get interesting :)

Sorry ladies (and maybe some guys if you happen to read my blog), I don't have much time to write an involved blog post today--things have been a little hectic at work today with extra meetings and getting work done before our impending snow days, so you'll have to forgive me.

But, what I DO have time to post today is....

2 months til wedding day!!!

(59 days....not that I'm counting....)

EEEEEK!

Time is flying--I know it will be here before I know it.

Although, at this point, I'm kind of preparing to have to wear snow boots and cross country skis in order to get married with the way the weather has been.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that that isn't the case and someone decides to make it warm by April! :)

Happy Wednesday! And thanks for sharing in my little countdown with me :)

This is a rant post, so be forewarned. If you're not ready for a rant, hit that little X button at the top of your screen now.

Like so many engaged couples, MG and I are registered at Macy's (and two other places). Macy's has a ton of stuff, there are stores near pretty much everyone, so it seemed like a logical choice.

Well, I'm kind of done with Macy's and if I could move all of our remaining registry items to other registries I would. My frustrations with Macy's have been mounting since the day we went and actually registered and I'm just kind of done with them.

One problem that I have, is that any time I do anything with a registry in the store (be it returning something that someone bought from my registry, or looking up someone else's registry....or purchasing an item from someone's registry that I already have in hand), they have to print out the ENTIRE list of registry items. Pages and pages of paper, so that they can scan the barcode at the bottom of the page? If you can look up a registry by last name, why do you need to print something off EVERY time? Especially if it's just to return something. (Shouldn't that be somehow associated with the return barcode?) Seems like a waste of time, and paper, to me.

Customer service at Macy's BLOWS CHUNKS. I tried calling them yesterday about an item that I received at my bridal shower that looked like it was on special, and I wanted to make sure the person who got it for me didn't get jipped on the "bonus item" (since often times they will just not give it to you unless you ask). Their phone system was impossible to use to get to a human being who could actually help me, and then on their web chat, it took over 25 minutes for me to be transferred to 3 separate people, only to find out that because my item was purchased in store, they couldn't help me.

So then I called my local store, was put on hold for about 10 minutes, only to be told to call another Macy's location. So, I called THAT store, and after 15 more minutes of waiting and hassle I was told that the item that was purchased was on clearance (despite the fact that it is NOT listed as clearance online) and the "bonus" did not apply to the item, despite it being listed as so online. And then she mentioned something about warehouses, etc. What???? So basically, I spent a total of an hour trying to get this figured out, only to get zero help and an answer that made no sense.

I also feel like the same thing happens in the store. I've been there a few times where I've needed help for something and I'm transferred from person to person, and usually with the same end result: wasted time and "sorry, we can't help you."

Let's also point out that Macy's prices are absurdly high. If you look on amazon for the majority of the same items that they sell, even during a Macys "sale"...usually prices are AT LEAST $10 cheaper on Amazon, if not more (and usually it IS more). My Kitchenaid is $529 at Macy's and $399 at Amazon. Same model, color everything.

Why am I going to pay more for the exact same item and crappy customer service?

And, as a small aside since I'm just complaining here, I'm annoyed that it takes me 2-3 times of entering all of my information before I can log into my registry. If I entered my info once, why do I need to enter it AGAIN in order to log in??

Arg!

I actually went through and transferred items from Macy's to our Amazon registry if it was on there, because I'd rather not give Macy's any extra business or money. You'd think that a national company with tons of wedding registries would have figured their crap out a little better than they have at this point. I wish I could be totally done with them.

Ok, rant over!

Has anyone else who registered with Macy's experienced the same annoyances?

This weekend was my second bridal shower--the first one was in PA with MG's family and this one was in VA with my friends who are down here.

My best friend, Genna, made her way up on Friday--I was SO excited to see her and get to spend quality girl time together since MG was away for the weekend on his bachelor party. It was great to see her, and it was like no time had passed by at all since the last time we were together.

That afternoon/evening we went out shopping for a bit, and then hit up happy hour for some chips/salsa/guac and a couple of beers. Perfect end to the week!

Sadly, both of us showed our age and tiredness levels by falling asleep on the couches at 8:30 for a little over an hour. So, we missed a solid chunk of the opening ceremony of the Olympics, but woke up to catch the last part haha.

Saturday we were up early. Genna had to do some grocery shopping for the bridal shower and my make up person was coming to do my make up trial for the wedding day. The make up turned out really great I think. Everyone complimented me on it at the bridal shower (altho if it was bad, I'm sure people would have said it looked good still anyway). I sent MG a pic and he said: "Wow very pretty. I will live solely to see you again" (the context of living was based on the fact that he and his friends had been out gambling until the early hours of the morning...so he wasn't really feeling like he was capable of being among the living at that time haha).

My other friend/bridesmaid Trish came early to help get everything ready, too.

And, after a whirlwind of getting food and ourselves prepped, MG's sister and mom arrived with two of his nieces. They were all a big help getting things together, too.

And here's where I share the pics that were taken with my phone since I don't have any other ones just yet:

Loved the wine cork letters for our monogram that Genna made herself!

Me and my almost-nieces!

P!nky came to my shower! :)

My bridesmaids, minus MG's other sister and oldest niece

Trishy poo!

All in all, it was a fab bridal shower! Everything was super pretty and it all went by so fast!

I'll share more pics once I get the rest from MG's sister. But, for now, these will have to do!

Thank you to all of my girls for making it all so special! And a special shout out to Genna for planning and executing it all so well! I'm incredibly lucky to have all of you in my life!

*shout out to my friend Bree who reads my blog--thanks for being the best and helping us afterwards with everything!! Love you all!!!